- Date
- January 30, 1989, 19:15 local (Jan 31, 1989, 03:15 UTC)
- Place
- Novato, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N985BYPiper PA-28-181
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 12, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890130001639A
- Case key
- 26332
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Fire in the engine compartment area for undetermined reasons.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
During the landing roll, the engine lost power. The airplane rolled off the runway onto a taxiway. The pilot attempted to restart but the engine backfired. The pilot observed flames in the engine compartment and positioned the mixture control to idle cutoff and continued to crank the engine. The flames continued to grow in intensity and subsequently destroyed the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N985BY
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-181
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-90021
- Airframe hours
- 1,380
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Linscott, Joan B.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 8, 1988 · 81 hours before
- Departed
- APC · Napa, CA
- Airport
- 056 · Gnoss Field, runway 31, 3,300 × 60 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 28
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 1,600 total · 175 in this make and model · 1,400 as pilot in command · 92 in the last 90 days · 53 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 50 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.